THE AMERICAN MAFIA - ChronologySection I, 1282-1900

The Mafia is born in Sicily. Its earliest suggested date of birth is in the island's murky medieval period. Beginning in the middle of the 19th Century, the Mafia transplants itself into the fertile soil of the New World.

Yr

Mo

Dy

City

State

Person(s)

Event

1282

3

29

Palermo

Palermo

"Sicilian Vespers" revolution against the occupying Angevins is traditionally viewed as the birth of the Sicilian Mafia. There are no contemporary mentions of the name "Mafia," a term which comes into being hundreds of years later, but the underground movement against Anjou may be seen as the ancestor of a later Mafia. The revolution began on Easter Sunday in 1282 - March 29 by the Julian calendar then in use.

1792

New York

NY

Coulter's Brewery is erected at the Five Points intersection of New York's Lower East Side, facing Paradise Square. The Brewery in later years and in a later incarnation as a broken-down tenement would become the centerpiece of New York's most impoverished and criminally active neighborhood.

1805

6

22

Genoa

Liguria

Giuseppe Mazzini

Mazzini is born into a middle class family in Genoa.

1837

New York

NY

Coulter's Brewery on the Lower East Side becomes a tenement house. In the decades to come, it would become known as the "Old Brewery" and be inhabited by the poorest of New York City's immigrant poor. It would be the site of numerous gang battles, murders and assorted crimes.

1843

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca

Peter Carvanna Jr. (later Joseph Peter Macheca) is born to Peter and Marietta Carvanna in New Orleans. Peter and Marietta live as husband and wife.

1846

New York

NY

Ladies' Home Missionary Society considers establishing a religious mission at the Five Points. Governing board decides it is impractical.

1847

c.

New Orleans

LA

Peter Carvanna

Peter Carvanna, convicted of a serious crime, receives a sentence of life in prison. Under Napoleonic Code, his relationship with Marietta dissolves.

Ladies' Home Missionary Society again considers establishing a mission at the Five Points. No suitable structure for meetings can be found.

1850

New York

NY

Ladies' Home Missionary Society opens a temporary mission at the Five Points.

1851

12

New York

NY

A benefit concert held at Metropolitan Hall raises $4,000 for a planned headquarters of the Ladies Home Missionary Society in the Five Points. The structure is to house a chapel, school rooms and clean, low-rent tenements.

1852

2

5

New York

NY

A Committee of the Ladies' Home Missionary Society recommends the purchase of Coulter's Old Brewery at the Five Points for conversion into a mission headquarters.

1852

3

8

New York

NY

The Ladies Home Missionary Society purchases Coulter's Old Brewery at the Five Points. Conversion of the delapidated structure into a headquarters is abandoned in favor of demolition and construction.

1852

12

New York

NY

The Old Brewery building at the Five Points is demolished.

1853

1

27

New York

NY

Cornerstone is laid for the Ladies Home Missionary Society headquarters on the site of the Old Brewery at Five Points. During construction, the society's operations are moved to a wooden structure in the small park at the center of the Five Points (Paradise Square?).

1854

6

16

New York

NY

A new headquarters for the Ladies Home Missionary Society is dedicated at the site of the Old Brewery at Five Points. The building is 75 feet long, 45 feet deep, five stories tall. Its chapel accommodates 500. Its school rooms have space for 200 pupils. Housing for the missionary and his family and twenty three-room apartments are also included. The building cost $36,000 to build. A balance of $4,000 is still owed.

1854

Corleone

Palermo

Antonio Morello

Approximate date of birth in some older sources for the alleged most senior of the Morello-Terranova brothers. While a New York immigrant named Antonio Morello did earn a criminal reputation around the turn of the 20th Century,he was not related to the Morello-Terranova family.

Mercieca (Joseph Macheca) enters into a business partnership with established oyster and fruit merchant J.B. Pigniolo, and George Borch and Peter J. Poelman. The business is located at Front Street between Crossman and Customhouse Streets.

1857

Monreale

Palermo

Charles Matranga

Future New Orleans Mafia boss is born.

1857

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca, David C. Hennessy

Future New Orleans Police Chief David C. Hennessy is born to Margaret and David Hennessy Sr., 275 Girod St., New Orleans.

1858

New Orleans

LA

Charles Matranga

Family moves from Sicily.

1859

Palermo

Palermo

Giuseppe Mazzini

Revolutionary and former member of Neapolitan Camorra, Mazzini seems to have united Palermo opponents of Bourbon rule within a "Mafia" underground organization built along the lines of the Camorra.

1860

1

New Orleans

LA

Raffaele Agnello

Palermo Mafioso Agnello arrives in New Orleans. His brother Joseph is already settled in the city.

Despite the conversion of the Old Brewery into a religious mission headquarters, "The Five Points district is not yet, by any means, a model neighborhood. Drunkenness, theft, murder, and licentiousness still stalk abroad there; the oath, the ribald song, the loud quarrel, and tee maudlin complaint of fallen, besotted, degraded womanhood still offend the eye and ear every hour; but its more horrible dens have been broken up; temperance, morality, education and religion have found a foothold there..."

1860

8

30

Padula

Salerno

Joseph Petrosino

Petrosino, future leader of the New York Police Department's Italian Squad, is born to Prospero and Maria Giuseppa Arato Petrosino in Padula.

1860

11

Washington

DC

Abraham Lincoln

Republican Abraham Lincoln is elected U.S. President with less than forty percent of the nation’s popular vote.

1861

1

26

LA

Louisiana state legislature formally adopts the Ordinance of Secession on Jan. 26, separating the state from the federal Union. State seizes federal Mint and Customhouse buildings in New Orleans as well as nearby forts.

1861

2

4

LA

Louisiana joins Confederate States of America on Feb. 4.

1861

9

10

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca

J.P. Macheca enlists in the 22nd Louisiana Infantry of the Confederate Army on Sept. 10.

Mafia appears to begin incorporating the groups of bandits in the Sicilian hills.

1862

4

18

New Orleans

LA

Admiral Farragut's federal fleet bombards Forts St. Philip and Jackson at mouth of Mississippi on April 18 and later sails up the Mississippi to New Orleans.

1862

5

2

New Orleans

LA

U.S. General Benjamin Butler, with 15,000 federal troops, takes command in New Orleans on May 2.

1862

Bisacquino

Vito Cascio Ferro

Cascio Ferro is born. He will later become an important Mafioso on both sides of the Atlantic.

1862

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca

J.P. Macheca’s Confederate enlistment period expires. He is allowed to return home.

1863

8

28

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca, Anthony Skillman, Capt. Hayes

Macheca, Skillman and Hayes are tried and convicted in connection with a scheme to steal and sell U.S. government property - barrels of pork and beef. Macheca was ordered to pay a fine of $50.

1863

Giuseppe Palermo

Future New York Mafioso is born.

1863

The term "Mafia" becomes more widely known after a play about heroic Palermo jail inmates is produced.

1864

12

10

Naples

Campania

Giosue Gallucci

Future crime boss of East Harlem, Gallucci is born in Naples, Italy.

1865

4

9

VA

Robert E. Lee

Civil War major hostilities end as Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders on April 9.

1865

4

14

Washington

DC

Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln is mortally wounded on the evening of April 14. He dies the following morning.

1865

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca

Macheca, wealthy from Union blockade running operations in Texas, returns to Louisiana, sets up steamship trading company, involves himself in local Democratic politics. Begins to organize the "Innocents" gang of Sicilian immigrants.

1867

5

2

Corleone

Palermo

Giuseppe Morello

Birth. (a.k.a. Peter, "The Clutch Hand.") Giuseppe Morello was the oldest of the Morello-Terranova brothers. He was half-brother to Nicholas, Ciro and Vincent Terranova. A number of sources incorrectly place Giuseppe Morello's birth in either 1863 or 1870.

1867

Sicily

Rosario Meli

Meli, 22, possibly a key player in the youth-oriented early Mafia, is convicted of murders. He escapes from police.

Arthur Guerin kills Special Officer David Hennessy Sr. in a barroom gunfight.

1867

New Orleans

LA

David C. Hennessy

Son of a murdered special police officer, young David C. Hennessy is welcomed into the police force as a messenger.

1868

10

24

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca

J.P. Macheca supports Presidential candidate Horatio Seymour of New York against Republican Ulysses Grant. Macheca assembles a large gang, comprised mostly of Sicilians and named the Innocenti (Innocents), leads them in violent attacks against New Orleans African-Americans starting Oct. 24.

1868

10

26

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca

The Innocents raid and rob the Pioneer Grant Radical Club rooms near the corner of Triton Walk and Philippa Street. The Innocents marchers were fired upon on two occasions during their nighttime procession.

1868

10

27

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca, Judge Gastinel

The Daily Picayune reports that a member of the Innocents club is shot and killed during a club march - shots fired from a building at Basin and St. Peter Streets near the Treme market. Innocents take over the neighborhood until dawn. Police withdraw. U.S. Army sends in cavalry and infantry to quiet the area. Innocents pull back to area behind Cathedral.

1868

10

28

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca

Innocents are armed and waiting behind the Cathedral for a decision of what steps to take next.

1868

10

28

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca, Raffaele Agnello, Litero Barba

On his way home from a meeting of Macheca's Innocents gang at the Orleans Ballroom, Litero Barba is shot to death at the corner of St. Philip and Chartres Streets. Barba is a leader of the local Messina colony. While the killing was first attributed to African Americans, Mafia leader Raffaele Agnello was later deemed responsible.

1868

10

31

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca

In an effort to quiet the community, the city decides to retain General Steedman as chief of police pro tem. The city had planned to replace Steedman. General Rousseau visits the Innocents and asks them to disband.

1868

12

New Orleans

LA

Raffaele Agnello,

Joseph Agnello, brother of Mafia boss Raffaele Agnello, hosts a party at his Royal Street residence to bring together the competing factions in the local Sicilian underworld. The gathering turns violent. Agnello lieutenant Alphonse Mateo is shot in the face at close range. Messinian faction boss Joseph Banano is shot in the back. Both men survive.

1868

New Orleans

LA

Reconstruction government creates the Louisiana State Lottery. Due to a corrupting influence that appears to reach into every aspect of Louisiana life, it becomes known as “the Octopus.”

1868

New Orleans

LA

Military occupation of Louisiana ends, but Republican-dominated state legislature forms Metropolitan Police, answering only to state officials.

1868

New Orleans

LA

Crescent City Democratic Club and similar conservative organizations join in an anti-Republican White League network.

1868

New Orleans

LA

Rosario Meli, Raffaele Agnello, Joseph Macheca

Meli turns up in New Orleans as a subordinate to local Mafia boss Raffaelo Agnello.

1869

2

15

New Orleans

LA

Raffaelo Agnello,

Agnello sends his brother Joseph and several other members of his organization to attack Messinian gang bosses at home. The group bursts into a Chartres Street residence, opening fire with shotguns. Messinian leaders Joseph Banano, Giovanni Casabianca, Pedro Allucho and two other men managed to escape with only minor injuries.

1869

3

New Orleans

LA

Raffaele Agnello

After a brief stay in the Galveston, Texas, area, Messina faction leaders return to New Orleans in March and are attacked at New Orleans Poydras Market.

1869

4

1

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca, Raffaele Agnello

J.P. secretly contests the leadership of Palermo Mafia leader Raffaele Agnello in the Sicilian community. During a walk toward the Macheca shop on April 1, Agnello is shot and killed. Monreale-based Stuppagghieri Mafia becomes the dominant force in New Orleans’ Sicilian underworld.

1869

4

1

New Orleans

LA

Raffaele Agnello, Joseph Macheca

Assassin Joseph Florada ambushes and kills Agnello in front of the Macheca produce store on Toulouse Street. He shoots Agnello in the face at close range with a blunderbuss pistol. Agnello bodyguard Frank Sacarro pursues and shoots at the Florada. Florada escapes through a nearby bakery.

1869

7

15

Fortunato LoMonte

Fortunato 'Charles' LoMonte is born in Sicily.

1869

7

22

New Orleans

LA

Raffaelo Agnello

Agnello's death is avenged as his brother Joseph and Salvador Rosa murder Messinian leaders Joseph Banano and Pedro Allucho near the French Market.

1869

9

6

Ciminna

Palermo

Rosario Dispenza

Dispenza, future crime boss of Chicago's Near North Side, is born in Ciminna, near Caccamo.

1871

7

12

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca

Macheca serves as aide to the grand marshal of the Tiro al Bersaglio club as it parades in New Orleans to celebrate Italian unification.

1871

2

16

Colosimi

Calabria

Jim Colosimo

Birth of future Chicago vice lord (a.k.a. "Big Jim").

1871

In the decade 1861-1871, a total of 12,211 Italians – almost all from northern Italy – entered the United States. The number was 0.51 percent of all immigrants.

1872

3

10

Pisa

Tuscany

Giuseppe Mazzini

Death while in custody of Italian government in Pisa.

1872

4

20

New Orleans

LA

Raffaelo Agnello, Joseph Agnello

Agnello's brother Joseph is shot to death at the Picayune Pier. His killers are Joseph Maressa, Joseph Florada and two other men.

1872

6

7

Valledolmo

Palermo

Anthony D'Andrea

Future Chicago crime boss D'Andrea is born to Giuseppe and Francesca Miceli D'Andrea. He is the second of their sons to be given the name Antonino.

1872

7

1

New Orleans

LA

A group of Sicilian counterfeiters is arrested by Special Officer Harris. The group had been manufacturing counterfeit coins from a house at 107 Cypress Street.

1872

7

12

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca

Macheca holds an organizational meeting at the St. Louis Hotel for his new Independent Columbus Legion. His meeting announcement is signed by him as club president.

1872

7

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca, Joseph Agnello

After the murder of Joseph Agnello in July, the underworld war between the Palermo and Messina factions quickly ends.

1872

11

LA

William Pitt Kellogg, John McEnery

By the end of the year, two men – Republican William Pitt Kellogg and Democrat John McEnery – claim to have been elected governor. Rival state legislatures are also formed.

1872

Chicago

IL

Jim Colosimo

Calabrian Colosimo arrives in Chicago.

1873

10

13

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca

Macheca serves as first marshal during a parade of the Tiro al Bersaglio honoring the discovery of America by Columbus.

1873

10

17

Vallelunga

Caltanissetta

Giuseppe DiCarlo

Giuseppe DiCarlo is born in Vallelunga, Sicily.

1873

LA

James Longstreet, William Pitt Kellogg, John McEnery, John Angello, James Hill

Former Confederate General James Longstreet supports Republicans and wins appointment to lead the Kellogg government’s Louisiana state militia. McEnery government quietly forms its own militia under the leadership of Confederate Colonels John B. Angell and James D. Hill. Daughter Rosa is born to J.P. and Bridget Macheca.

1874

9

9

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca

Macheca calls to order the first meeting of the Cosmopolitan Democratic Club at the corner of Royal and Orleans Streets. The group includes a large number of Italians, Spaniards, Austrians and "other foreign citizens." The group's purpose is to oppose the state government usurpation. It elects P. Torre Jr. as president. Macheca is elected as grand marshal.

1874

9

12

New Orleans

LA

Steamer Mississippi arrives at the Port of New Orleans Sept 12. with a shipment of weapons for the White League. Metropolitan Police board the ship and seize the weapons.

1874

9

14

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca

Joseph P. Macheca, 31, captain McEnery Guards, leads an armed force of 300 Italians in the White League's revolt against the Republican state government on Sept. 14 (Battle of Liberty Place).

1874

Antonino Leone, Giuseppe Esposito

Mafia gains international attention as leader Leone and his lieutenant, Giuseppe Esposito, kidnap English banker and demand ransom. Payments are slow. Leone reportedly mails first one ear, then the other, and then a portion of the victim's nose to his family. Reports of the mutilation appear to have been greatly exaggerated.

1875

4

4

New Orleans

LA

Antonio Cecala

Future New York Mafioso is born.

1875

Antonino Leone, Giuseppe Esposito

Under pressure from the English government, the Italian army moves against Leone. Enduring significant losses, the army encircles Leone's band in the hills and captures the leader as well as Esposito. Leone is sentenced to life in prison (serves only a few years before escaping to North Africa), but Esposito escapes from police and returns to lead the Sicilian Mafia.

1875

San Francisco

CA

Rosario Meli

Meli and some followers move from New Orleans to San Francisco in the hopes of establishing themselves as leaders of a Mafia group there.

1875

5

21

Corleone

Palermo

Carlo Piranio

Future Dallas crime boss Carlo T. Piranio is born in Corleone.

1877

3

19

Palermo

Ignazio Lupo

Born to a middle class family in Province of Palermo, Sicily. (Birthdate on WWI draft registration card was March 21, 1877.)

1877

4

5

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca

Macheca is named in an advertisement calling for a mass meeting at Lafayette Square, April 6, at noon.

Salvatore Marino, leader of the Stuppagghieri, a rebel Mafia group in New Orleans, dies after a bout with Yellow Fever.

1878

11

New York

NY

Giuseppe Esposito

With authorities on his trail, Esposito decides to flee Sicily for the U.S. Sails to New York via Marseilles, France.

1878

Philadelphia

PA

Rosario Meli

Meli runs a busy fruit stand on Tenth Street between Chestnut and Market Streets in Philadelphia before suddenly disappearing. He introduced himself to saloonkeeper A. Cavagnaro as a Mason. Cavagnaro took him to the Masonic Temple "and it was ascertained that he was up in Masonry."

1878

San Francisco

CA

Rosario Meli

Meli and several associates are accused of murder. An underling confesses to the killing and insists it was a matter of honor. No prosecution in the case. Group then charged, convicted and jailed for robbery.

1879

8

7

Salemi

Trapani

Gaspare Messina

Future New England crime boss Gaspare Messina is born to Salvatore and Gasparina Clementi Messina in Salemi, Sicily.

1879

Spring

New Orleans

LA

Giuseppe Esposito, Joseph Macheca

Looking for greener pastures, Esposito and some associates relocate from New York to New Orleans. Esposito renames himself Vincenzo Rebello.

1879

10

New Orleans

LA

Giuseppe Esposito (a.k.a. Vincenzo Rebello)

Esposito marries Sarah Castagno in New Orleans. News travels back to Sicily, where Esposito left a wife and children.

1879

Antonino Leone

The legendary brigand leader Leone reportedly escapes from prison, disappears in North Africa.

1879

New York

NY

Joe Petrosino

Future leader of the NYPD Italian Squad arrives in New York City.

1880

8

31

New York

NY

Rosario Meli

Meli, 28, arrives in New York after a cross-country trip from San Francisco. San Francisco officials intend for him to be deported to Italy to face murder charges there. He is accused of leading a band of brigands that attacked a group of English tourists three years earlier, killing two of them. They turn him over to New York Police Inspector Byrnes.

1880

9

2

New York

NY

Rosario Meli

U.S. Commissioner Douel reviews deportation paperwork accompanying Meli from San Francisco and finds it in order. Douel says he has no jurisdiction over Meli.

1880

9

8

New York

NY

Rosario Meli

American officials seek to deport Meli. He is moved to New York and reportedly boarded ship for Sicily. However, he seems never to have arrived at his destination.

1880

Vincenzo Giglio

Future New York Mafioso is born.

1880

In the decade 1871-1880, a total of 55,762 Italians – mostly Sicilians – entered the United States. The number was 2 percent of all immigrants.

Hennessey, who works in the New Orleans police force along with his cousin Mike, first becomes aware of a Mafia presence in his town.

1881

7

5

New Orleans

LA

Giuseppe Esposito. Tony Labruzzo, David Hennessy

Learning of his Sicilian Mafia connections through his Sicilian wife and an informer, Tony Labruzzo, Hennessey nabs Esposito and turns him over to be deported. Esposito returns to New York City on July 13 for an extradition hearing.

1881

7

13

New York

NY

Giuseppe Esposito

Esposito insists he is Vincenzo Rebello and has been wrongly identified. He cannot be deported until authorities can prove his identity through photos and witnesses. New York Sicilian community mobilizes to assist him.

1881

9

21

New York

NY

Giuseppe Esposito

His identity proved, Esposito is deported, faces murder charges in Italy. Internal struggles erupt within Mafia organizations in New Orleans and New York as Mafiosi seek to determine who has betrayed Esposito.

Imprisoned Esposito files a lawsuit against Cusimano and his father-in-law Grande of New Orleans, seeking money and property (a lugger) he says the two stole from him. According to Esposito, he trusted Cusimano upon his arrival in New Orleans in March 1880 because of recommendations by friends in Sicily.

1881

12

New Orleans

LA

Giuseppe Esposito, Angelo Cusimano, Giuseppe Grande

Cusimano and Grande say that Esposito's accusations against them are false. They admit to maintaining a credit account for Esposito and to owing him a balance of $85.20.

1881

Rome

Giuseppe Esposito

Convicted of murders, Esposito is jailed for life.

1882

Naples

Campania

Johnny Torrio

Future Chicago gang boss is born (a.k.a. "Terrible John").

1882

Giuseppe Piraino

Birth of future Brooklyn racketeer known as "the Clutching Hand."

1882

New York

NY

Electric lights make their debut in lower Manhattan - 1882

1882

New York

NY

Arnold Rothstein

Future New York racketeer and underworld financier is born.

1882

New Orleans

LA

Giuseppe Provenzano,

Two factions emerge in New Orleans after Esposito's arrest. Provenzano's group, comprised of more traditional mafiosi with ties to Palermo leadership, are angered that Macheca did not use his political influence to save Esposito. The Macheca-Matranga faction includes home-grown criminals. Macheca is able to use political muscle to have Hennessey brothers dismissed from police force.

1883

1

20

Galloway Township

NJ

Enoch Johnson

Future crime boss of Atlantic City, NJ, Johnson is born in Galloway Township.

1883

Vito Cascio Ferro

Assault is reportedly first official charge to go on Cascio Ferro's police record.

1883

New York

NY

Joe Petrosino

Joins New York police force.

1884

4

5

Staten Island

NY

Antonio Flaccomio, Camillo Farach

Farach's dead body is found in a field on Staten Island. His business partner (cigar store at 103 Degraw Street in Brooklyn), Antonio Flaccomio, is primary suspect. Police believe the two dueled with sword canes over a financial disagreement. Coroner's jury eventually decides that Farach's death is the result of a suicide, though he was stabbed both in his chest and his back.

1884

5

17

Corleone

Palermo

Tommaso Gagliano

Future New York crime boss Gagliano is born in Corleone.

1884

6

12

Siculilana

Agrigento

Nicola Gentile

Future Mafia leader in Pittsburgh and Kansas City, Gentile is born in Siculiana.

Future American Mafia boss of bosses Giuseppe Masseria is born in Menfi to Giuseppe Sr. and Vita Marceca Masseria.

1886

5

15

Corleone

Palermo

Vincenzo Terranova

Future East Harlem Mafioso is born in Corleone, Sicily.

1886

5

28

Cianciana

Santo Trafficante Sr.

Future crime boss of Tampa Florida is born in Cianciana.

1886

7

New York

NY

Antonio Flaccomio,

Flaccomio, in hiding in Buffalo, Chicago, Louisville and New Orleans since 1884, resurfaces in New York City. He appears before John Farach, brother of Camillo Farach, admits responsibility for Camillo's death and asks to be allowed to return to live in the city. Farach tells him to stay out of Brooklyn or he will be killed.

Matranga and Locascio stevedore firm underbids Provenzano firm, wins contracts from produce shipping companies and becomes the main agent for Sicilian longshoremen. Mike Hennessy is shot five times and killed while returning home from a Houston theater.

1887

4

14

New York

NY

Antonio Flaccomio, Camillo Farach

A friend leads Flaccomio to a dark spot at Manhattan's Jersey Street, near Crosby Street, and attacks him. Flaccomio is prepared for the betrayal and shoots his assailant in the wrist. The two men flee. Flaccomio runs a grocery nearby at 607 Third Avenue. He has apparently been condemned to death by regional Mafia leaders who believe he violated underworld codes by taking Camillo Farach's life in 1884 and by aiding a government investigation into Sicilian counterfeiting rings.

1887

6

6

Italy

Cesare LaMare

Birth of Cesare LaMare.

1888

Shreveport

LA

Carlo Piranio

Future Dallas crime boss Carlo T. Piranio arrives in the U.S. and settles in Shreveport.

1888

1

5

New Orleans

LA

Rocco Geraci, Anthony Bonora

Rocco Geraci, member of the New Orleans Stuppagghieri Mafia, shoots and kills Giardinieri Mafia member Anthony Bonora.

1888

1

27

Agri

Frank Nitti

Nitti is born in Agri, Italy. Later became member of Five Points Gang in New York and top lieutenant to Capone in Chicago.

1888

7

20

Corleone

Palermo

Ciro Terranova

Future East Harlem Mafioso Terranova is born in Corleone, Sicily.

1888

10

14

New York

NY

Carlo & Vincenzo Quarteraro, Antonio Flaccomio

Flaccomio stabbed to death in the first recognized Mafia murder in New York. Brothers Carlo and Vincent Quarteraro are accused of the crime, which occurred in front of the Cooper Union building at Eighth Street and Third Avenue, not far from Flaccomio's grocery. Flaccomio was drinking and gambling with acquaintances at La Trinicria restaurant at Manhattan's St. Mark's Place, owned by Giuseppe Canizzaro and Natale Sabatino. An argument erupted. Sabatino and Francesco Aita escorted Flaccomio out of the restaurant and down the street. Carlo and Vincenzo Quarteraro charged after Flaccomio with knives. Carlo stabbed Flaccomio to death. Police decided that the killing was the result of a vendetta linked to the betrayal of Sicilian counterfeiting rings and to the murder of Camillo Farach.

Carlo Quarteraro, believed to be the actual murderer of Flaccomio, has fled the country. His brother Vincenzo turns himself in to police, believing he is wanted merely as a material witness. Vincenzo is charged with murder. NYPD Inspector Byrnes announces to the press that the Palermo, Sicily, Mafia has branches in the United States, headquartered in New York City and New Orleans.

1888

New Orleans

LA

David Hennessy

A wave of reform sweeps through New Orleans and leads to Hennessey's appointment as police chief.

1888

New Orleans

LA

Rocco Geraci

Geraci is identified as top enforcer for the Macheca-Matranga group.

1888

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca, Charles Matranga, Giuseppe Provenzano

Authorities believe Macheca-Matranga organization has imported 320 members of the Stoppaglieri group from Sicily. Macheca-Matranga is preparing for all-out war against Provenzano's Mafia and begins challenging Provenzano's monopoly on the docks.

1889

1

5

New Orleans

LA

Vincenzo Ultonino

Mafioso Ultonino (sometimes called Ottumvo) is found dead in a roadside drainage ditch. His throat was cut.

1889

2

11

Joseph Bruno Dovi

Birth of future Philly Mob boss Joseph Bruno Dovi.

1889

2

24

New Orleans

LA

Joe Mattaino

Mafioso Mattaino is found dead in his home, his head burned inside his fireplace.

1889

3

New Orleans

LA

Pietro Vitrano

Mafioso Vitrano is discovered beaten to death.

1889

4

New York

NY

Carlo & Vincenzo Quarteraro, Antonio Flaccomio

Vincenzo Quarteraro is acquitted of the Flaccomio murder. Disgusted police detective remarks that Italians in New York can go ahead and "kill each other."

1889

9

1

Herbert Asbury

Crime journalist Herbert Asbury is born in Missouri.

1889

Corleone

Palermo

Giuseppe Morello

Morello and an accomplice were assigned by the Mafia to kill Corleone, Sicily, police official Giovanni Vella. Two women witnessed the killing. One was later killed. The other was scared into silence. A Vella political opponent named Francesco Ortelero is blamed, convicted and imprisoned.

1889

Palermo

Palermo

Ignazio Lupo

Lupo, just 12 years old, is believed to have murdered a man named Salvatore Morello (apparently unrelated to the Giuseppe Morello family). Flees to New York to escape prosecution.

1889

Nicholas Sylvester

Future New York Mafioso is born.

1890

1

1

Dedham

MA

Giuseppe DeLucca, Edward Cunningham, Giacchino Cocchiara

In Dedham, MA, Giuseppe DeLucca is found guilty of the Nov. 21 killing of Edward Cunningham. Giacchino Cocchiara had testified against his friend and is subsequently marked for death.

1890

1

6

Corleone

Palermo

Nicholas Terranova

Future East Harlem Mafia leader Terranova is born in Corleone, Sicily.

1890

4

25

Tessie Catania

Born in Sicily, she later becomes Mrs. Ciro Terranova.

1890

5

6

New Orleans

LA

Antonio Matranga, David C. Hennessy

Early in the morning of May 6, a wagon carrying Matranga stevedores is ambushed at the corner of Claiborne and Esplanade Streets. Three men, including Antonio Matranga, are seriously wounded. Provenzano gang leaders are arrested. Ring attempts to extend lottery contract through a constitutional amendment. The Provenzano gang leadership is sentenced to life in prison for the ambush of the Matranga wagon. As the result of Chief Hennessy’s investigation into the Mafia in New Orleans and in Sicily and of a grand jury probe into police alibis for the Provenzanos, a judge orders a new trial for the Provenzano gang leadership. Hennessy intends to testify in the next trial. Hennessy receives a number of death threats through the summer. Police Chief David Hennessy is ambushed and mortally wounded outside his home. Hennessy dies at Charity Hospital, 9:06 a.m., Oct. 16. Hennessy attack is believed to have resulted from his threat to expose and eliminate the local Mafia. Many local Sicilians and Italians, including J.P., are arrested as suspects in the assassination.

1890

7

New Orleans

LA

Giuseppe Provenzano

Provenzano defendants are convicted of the killings, but judge throws out the verdict and orders a new trial.

1890

10

15

New Orleans

LA

David Hennessey, Joseph Macheca, Charles Matranga

Hennessey is ambushed near corner of Girod and Basin Streets at about 11:30 p.m. He was on his way home to 275 Girod Street. Boy walks ahead of him along the street and whistles a signal. Gunmen emerge and kill the police chief.Macheca-Matranga leadership is hauled in and charged with the assassination.

In the decade 1881-1890, a total of 307,300 Italians entered the United States. The number was 5.9 percent of all immigrants.

1891

1

1

Dedham

MA

Giuseppe DeLucca

In Dedham, MA, Giuseppe DeLucca is found guilty of the Nov. 21 killing of Edward Cunningham. Giacchino Cocchiara testified against DeLucca and is marked for death.

1891

2

27

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca, Charles Matranga, David C. Hennessy

J.P. Macheca and eight other defendants are brought to trial Feb. 27 for the murder of Police Chief David Hennessy.

1891

3

2

New Orleans

LA

Manuel Polizzi, Joseph Macheca, Charles Matranga

Defendant Polizzi experiences an apparent emotional breakdown in court March 2 and allegedly names J.P. Macheca and Charles Matranga the heads of the New Orleans Mafia.

1891

3

13

New Orleans

LA

David C. Hennessy

A jury finds none guilty of the assassination of New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy. The city is outraged.

1891

3

14

New Orleans

LA

Joseph Macheca, Charles Matranga

Angry mob asembles, enters the jail and murders most of the defendants. Macheca is among those killed. Charles Matranga manages to survive the incident and later becomes recognized head of New Orleans underworld.

1895 is generally regarded as the official start date for the Unione Siciliana in Chicago. The Unione became a national brotherhood providing support for Sicilian immigrants but was later contaminated by Mafiosi and turned into a criminal network. An earlier start date for the organization (or, perhaps, an earlier parent group) appears likely.

1895

Brooklyn

NY

Giuseppe Balsamo

(a.k.a. "Battista Balsamo") Arrives in New York. Was an established Sicilian Mafioso. One source claims erroneously that he was the first American "Godfather." His authority was likely confined to a small region of Brooklyn.

1895

New York

NY

Francesco Castiglia

Frank Costello arrives in New York. Family settles into apartment on East 108th Street and begins operating a small grocery.

1896

Sam Carolla

Birth (orig. Sylvestro Carolla)

1897

2

6

New York

NY

Louis Buchalter

Birth of future New York racketeer and Murder Inc. chief (a.k.a. "Lepke").

1897

2

20

Nicolo Licata

Birth of future Los Angeles crime boss Nicolo Licata.

1897

7

18

Vallelunga

Caltanissetta

Cassandro Bonasera

Cassandro "Anthony" "Tony the Chief" Bonasera was born in Vallelunga, Sicily, to Vincenzo and Lucy Spoto Bonasera.

Future Mafia boss of Chicago, Angelo Genna is born in Marsala to Antonino and Maria Sancore Genna.

1898

2

15

Havana

The U.S.S. Maine explodes in Havana Harbor. The event is the trigger for the Spanish-American War.

1898

4

20

Spanish-American War - April 20, 1898, to Dec. 10, 1898.

1898

6

13

Springfield

MA

Natale Giuliano, Pietro Fazzio

Natale Giuliano of Springfield, MA, is charged with the shooting death of his in-law Pietro Fazzio. Though the afternoon killing is done in plain view of many bystanders, all quickly forget the details.

1898

7

1

New York

NY

Giovanni Pieri

Ignazia Ciresi, future wife of Giovanni Pieri, arrived in New York aboard the S.S. Bolivia from Naples. Ciresi, 15, was from Montemaggiore.

1898

11

20

Manhattan

NY

Vincenzo Gallucci, Giosue Gallucci, Francesco D'Angelo, Luigi LaRosa

Camorra gunmen D'Angelo and LaRosa ambush Giosue Gallucci's brother Francesco at the corner of Canal and Mulberry Streets, shooting him to death.

U.S. authorities note the criminal activity of the Gallucci family in New York. They seek to have Giosue Gallucci deported, as he was a known criminal in Italy before traveling to the U.S.

1899

1

23

Humphrey Bogart

Humphrey Bogart, future actor in gangster films, is born.

1899

4

28

New York

NY

Vincenzo Gallucci, Francesco D'Angelo, Luigi LaRosa

D'Angelo and LaRosa plead guilty to manslaughter charges in connection with the killing of Vincenzo Gallucci. D'Angelo is sentenced to 20 years in prison. LaRosa is sentenced to 15 years.

1899

7

17

New York

NY

James Cagney

Gangster-actor James Cagney is born in Manhattan.

1899

10

26

New Orleans

LA

Giuseppe Ardizzone

Future Los Angeles Mafia leader Giuseppe Ernesto Ardizzone arrives in New Orleans aboard the S.S. California (the ship does not show up in port arrivals on this date).

1899

11

1

Vallelunga

Caltanissetta

Joseph DiCarlo

Joseph DiCarlo, son of Giuseppe DiCarlo, is born in Vallelunga, Sicily.

1899

12

1

Palermo

Palermo

Gaetano Lucchese

Gaetano 'Tommy' Lucchese is born in Palermo, Sicily.

1899

New York

NY

Ignazio Lupo

Arrives in U.S.

1899

1

17

Brooklyn

NY

Alphonse Capone

Future Chicago crime boss Capone is born in Brooklyn.

1900

8

28

Meyer Lansky

Birth of Meyer Lansky, originally Meier Suchowljansky.

1900

11

15

New York

NY

Giuseppe Morello, Nicholas Terranova

Secret Service agents raid the home of Giuseppe Morello, 207 East 107th Street, finding nine revolvers under the bed pillows of Morello and his half-brother Nicholas Terranova. Agents recover black hand letters that Morello's wife stuffed into the diaper of her young child.

1900

In the decade 1891-1900, a total of 651,893 Italians entered the United States. That number was 18 percent of all immigrants.